At 11:37 PM on June 10, 2009, Merritt Speedway entered another name in their history book as Dona Marcoullier of Houghton Lake, Mi. came from deep (14th starting position) in the pack to win the 3rd Annual “WHO 55”.
With weather being a positive in the evenings equation, a field which included some of the best Super Late Model drivers in the Mid-west attempted to tame Merritt Speedway the Home of the Wood Tic. In time trials Rob Harden of Ovid, Mi. set atop of the list turning a lap of 14.04 seconds.
With qualifying in the books the 2nd Annual Race of Champions took to the speedway, Champions from all dirt tracks in Michigan and all touring series are invited. Rich Neiser of Fruitport, Mi., Champion of Winston Speedway in Rothbury, Mi. came up from 4th to take the winner take all $1000.00 purse.
In Heat race competition Adam Thrush of Mt Pleasant, Mi. won Heat 1, Heat 2 went to Andy Chester of Kingsley, Mi., Ryan Vander Veen of Six Lakes, Mi. won Heat 3, Mark Andersen of Blanchard, Mi. was victorious in Heat 4, Heat 5 was won by “The Sniper” Wayne Chinn of Bradford, Oh. And Brian Ruhlman of Clark Lake, Mi. took the checkers in Heat 6. In the B Mains several of the “big name” drivers had to put together a last chance rally to made the big show. The father and son Marcoullier racing team taking honors in the first and third B main, with Jeep Van Wormer of Pinconning, Mi. winning the second B.
As the feature entered the track, the thought that these drivers represented over 50 track and series championships put a certain “electricity” in the air. When the green flag flew, the pack charged into turn one with Ruhlman and Chinn side-by-side, down the backstretch Chinn edged into the lead. Back in the pack Dona Marcoullier was working high and low, moving up to 9th on lap 5 and by lap 10 into 6th, from his 13th starting position, however up front “The Sniper” Chinn had established a ten car length lead. By lap 18, Dona had moved up to 3rd and David Hilliker of Midland, Mi moved into 4th from his 9th place starting spot, but there was still a straight away distance to the leader. As the crossed flags were displayed, Dona and Hilliker had caught 2nd place Ruhlman and these three former champion diced and battled until back to back caution on laps 35 & 36 bunched the field. Following the restart on lap 37, Dona followed by Hilliker overhauled Ruhlman through turns 3 & 4, and down the front stretch Dona caught Chinn, thru 1 & 2 and down the backstretch they ran side-by-side. As the lead pair entered turn 3, Dona went a little deeper and out of turn 4 cleared Chinn and set sail to the victory. Chinn had on to 2nd, followed by Hilliker in 3rd, Ruhlman 4th, and Neiser 5th.
Pro Trucks had the other part of the ticket for the evenings racing, Bob Hammar of Cadillac, Mi and Dick Stout of Prudenville, Mi won the Heats, a rarely run “whip” went to Bob Green of Traverse City, Mi and the Feature was won by Adam Brinks of Cadillac, Mi.
Scheduled for June 20th is a little more “risqué” night of racing, the “Topless 100”, 40 lap feature for the Super Late Models, 30 lap feature for the Modifieds and 30 lap feature for the Pro Trucks, plus Sportsman and Jimmy’s Collision Repair Center Factory Stocks. Topless for this event means the roof panels have been removed, giving fans a better visual of the drivers actions in the cockpit of these race machines. Gates open at 4:00 PM, Hot laps start at 6:00 PM and racing starts at 7:30 PM.
Bob Steele
Merritt Speedway
